When Ron Gourlay, the Chelsea chief executive, composed a letter to Howard
Riddle, a district judge at Westminster Magistrates Court, the narrow
motivation was preserving his club’s best interests.

Yet it became the unlikely trigger for an extraordinary sequence of events that now leaves English football without either a England manager or a captain.

Capello had been on holiday when, having considered Gourlay’s representation, Judge Riddle ruled that John Terry’s trial for the alleged racist abuse of Anton Ferdinand should be adjourned until July 9. Until then, the agreed position was that Terry should keep the captaincy.

For the FA board, the delay until after Euro 2012 changed everything.David Bernstein, the FA chairman, spent Wednesday and Thursday telephoning the 13 other members of his board to canvas opinion. A strong majority supported his view on Terry.

Yet it was not the decision, but the process which angered Capello and caused this split. When Capello spoke to Bernstein he was told Terry would no longer be his captain.

The sense that Capello had become isolated within the FA had actually been growing well before the Terry decision. After four years his English remains patchy, while the importance of the departure last October of his general manager, Franco Baldini, cannot be overstated. Baldini was Capello’s buffer with both the players and the FA hierarchy. Yet even on Saturday, the sense from those close to Capello was that, while angered at having the captaincy decision taken out of his hands, he remained determined to fight on.

Capello’s decision to conduct an outspoken interview with an Italian broadcaster became the tipping point. The FA knew Capello disagreed with their decision but were shocked he went public. Sources close to Capello do not believe that he went to Wembley with the definite intention of resigning but rather to make his point forcefully.

Yet in Bernstein and the FA board Capello faced a mood that it was he who needed to be censured. For one who treated the captaincy with bemusement and indifference, the irony was that this should become the principle on which his tenure would end.